'El jockey', the Argentine black comedy in competition in Venice disappoints

Luis Ortega starts from undoubtedly ambitious premises, with this film that mixes the tones of a black comedy with a journey of formation undertaken by its protagonist to find his true self.

If initially 'El jockey' also manages to involve, after the incident the narrative falls apart on excessively surreal and almost never incisive tracks that make the viewing unfulfilling and even less able to leave really interesting points to think about at the end of the credits.

The good editing rhythm that characterised 'The Angel of Crime' is only to be found here in the remarkable sequence preceding the incident, while for the rest of the narrative we witness a product that is directionally scholastic, putting too much meat on the fire without managing to find the right balance between the parts.

Among the few merits is a beautiful soundtrack that manages to enhance certain passages, although it is not enough to raise the overall level of the operation.

Nor does it help a cast of performers who are not in good shape, including the usually good Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, who became famous for good performances in '120 Beats a Minute' and 'One Year, One Night'. Other familiar faces include Mariana Di Girólamo, the unforgettable star of Pablo Larraín's 'Ema'.

From a disappointment we turn instead to a nice surprise: it convinces 'Super Happy Forever', the film that opened Venice Days.

Directed by Japanese director Kohei Igarashi, the film is about Sano, a man who asked his friend Miyata to accompany him to Izu, a seaside resort in Japan where he had fallen in love with his wife Nagi five years earlier.

Not too much can be revealed about a plot that speaks of life and death in a strongly poetic key: Igarashi's is a film that is delicate in form and powerful in content, capable of astonishing the viewer with its ability to shake him with choices that are as simple as they are incisive.

Some passages may be predictable and already seen, but the film succeeds in engaging from start to finish also thanks to the excellent writing of all the characters on stage.